Improvement in surfacing cast-iron



HIRAM TUCKER, OF NEWTON, .MASSAGHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 103,527, dated May 24, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN SURFACING- CAST-IRON.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thesame.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM TUCKER, of Newton, in the county of Middlesexand State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in SurfacingArticles of Cast-Iron and I do hereby declare that the followingisadescription of my invention sufficient to enable those skilled in theart to practice it.

This invention relates to ornamentally protecting and surfacingcast-iron articles, which are so formed as to present ad'acent parts inrelief and "depression, such inequalities in the form of the surfacebeing-produced by casting from apattern; and

My invention consists in the process to be described, and in theproducts resulting from such process.

Commonly, I make the parts adjacent to each other, which are tobe'ornainentally colored, in contrast, and are to be protected fromatmospheric and other extraneous influences, in substantially parallelsurfaces, so that the outer surfaces, or the surfaces in relief, oi thetracery, may be easily ground, filed, or otherwise finished by anabrading or cutting action.

The depressed surfaces are simply cleansed from sand or otherconsiderable roughness or foreign matter, and then the entire surfaceswhich will be presented to view are coated with any suitable coloredvarnish, paint, or lacquer, of desired hue, having,

also, considerable body, and being,.preferably, opaque, so as to form acomplete covering, which may be left to harden and dry, by evaporation,in the atmosphere; or said covering my be hastened in its hardening bythe action of a suitable degree of heat; and sucli covering may beapplied in one or more coats, as may be desired.

Then the prominent surfaces are cleansed from the coating so applied,and are polished by abrasion or cutting, so as, to present the metallicluster of the cast-iron, and a smooth, fair surface, which is thencoated with a transparent or semi-transparent colored varnish, or, ifdesired, may be first bronzed, as described in my patent No. 40,964, ofDecember 15, 1863, and then varnished; or it may be oxidized andvarnished, or it may be. covered with a colored lacquer, and thenvarnished, the metallic luster and the smoothness of the raised surfacesacting on their transparent or partly transparent coating, somewhat inthe.

manner of a foil on an imposed gem or paste, though to a less degree.

Articles of metal having adjacent raised and sunken surfaces, haveheretofore been coated with paints, lacquers, 850, these beingafterwardremoved from the raised surfaces, which were, then or before,polished and left exposed, involving much care and labor, when theattempt is made to keep such polished surfaces from oxidation. Butwhere, as in my invention, the raised brightened surfaces are protectedfrom the air, they give no trouble on account of rusting, and thepeculiar color and luster of the metal are disguised or changed, bycoloring the varnish to be applied, or by the bronzing process referredto, or by oxidiz'ing or lacquering the surface which has beenbrightened, before applying varnish, so'as to resemble to the view,metals or alloys of greater cost.

In some cases, the process may be slightly varied with advantage,without departure from my invention, as, by polishing the raisedsurfaces before coating-with paints, &c., and then the coating may bewiped off from the raised polished surfaces before it is set, or it maybe scraped off after it is dry; but, in any case, the raised polishedsurfaces are to be colored and protected by varnish. v

With care, the paint, 860., may be applied only to the depressedsurfaces, whether the raised surfacesare polished before or after thesunken surfaces are coated.

The described processof ornamenting and protecting the surfaces ofcast-iron articles formed with sunken and raised'parts, substantially asand for the purpose specified. I

Also, as a new manufacture, articles of cast-iron, formed as described,superficially protected and colored in contrast, as set forth.

HIRAM TUCKER.

' \Vitnesses:

J B. Onosnv, M. W. FRQTHINGHAM.

